


the stars now moving

by rebekuhhh



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:01:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25782556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebekuhhh/pseuds/rebekuhhh
Summary: Canon divergence, starting with Ep.1.21.Paris catches wind of the P.J. Harvey tickets before Tristan asks Rory. Post-confrontation, Rory is fed up enough to go.
Relationships: Tristan Dugray/Rory Gilmore
Comments: 6
Kudos: 45





	the stars now moving

**Author's Note:**

> I intentionally rearranged the events of the episode, modified the dialogue a bit, and moved the date of the concert up for plot purposes. Had the stars aligned differently, Rory and Tristan could have been great together.

Paris was having a fantastic day when she found Tristan loitering by her locker. She'd just been told that she'd been made Editor of the _Franklin_ , and was already filing away ideas for the next year's first issue - it would have to be a double issue, for sure - when Madeline and Louise joined her. She tuned out their talk about Judy Garland, instead making note of Tristan's decidedly shifty behavior. Trying to look nonchalant herself, Paris watched him try to surreptitiously crane his neck to look over the crowd of students around them while pulling some papers out of his blazer pocket.

Paris looked over her shoulder to make eye contact with Louise. Louise arched an eyebrow to show she'd noticed too, and tilted her head in question. Madeline was still oblivious.

"Hi Tristan." Paris graced him with a genuine smile, still riding the high of her new Editor position.

He barely glanced away from his crowd watching. "Hey."

Although it wasn't the response she'd hoped for, Paris was happy to turn her attention back to her locker and her thoughts on the _Franklin_.

Madeline finally noticed Louise's shift in attention and spotted the papers in Tristan's hand. "Ooh! What are those?"

"P.J. Harvey tickets." Tristan turned to look at them, finally having fully registered he had company.

"Really?" Louise asked, impressed. Paris was inclined to agree with the sentiment. "Who's the other one for?"

"Rory."

Paris' head snapped up. "What?"

Tristan didn't acknowledge her.

Louise's expression shifted into mild shock. "Rory's going out with you?"

"Yes she is." Tristan's face slid into his trademark easy smirk. With one last look at the dwindling crowd around them, he slipped between Paris and Madeline and left without saying goodbye.

Madeline looked confused. "I didn't think she liked him."

"I didn't either." Louise looked over just in time to see Paris slam her locker closed and stalk off. "Do you think she's mad?"

Without looking back, Paris yelled for them. "What are you two waiting for, a tram? Let's move!"

"Oh yeah." Madeline nodded. "She's mad."

Rory was on her way to class when Paris ambushed her.

"You know, when we met at the beginning of the year I didn't like you, because I thought you were some rube from the sticks, and I have no patience for rubes."

"What?"

"But then I discovered that you're not so dumb. You even seemed modestly interesting at times." Paris continued. "That's when I made a very big mistake. I let my guard down. That won't happen again."

"What is all this about?"

"It's about using people for your own sick ends. It's about making enemies when you should have made friends."

"How did I make you my enemy?"

"Oh, I think you know." Paris made to walk off just as quickly as she'd come.

Rory followed after, unwilling to allow the other girl a clean hit-and-run. "Was it setting you up with Tristan? I'm sorry about that, I thought I was being nice."

Paris scoffed. "Sure you did."

"I helped you get ready! I loaned you my mother's clothes, which I still haven't gotten back, by the way."

"Oh my God, you're right. I hope those weren't the ones Skippy had her puppies on, I'll check when I get home."

"Tell me what I did." Rory had to grab Paris by the arm to get her to stop. "Paris!"

"Think about it at P.J. Harvey!" Paris snapped.

Rory pulled back in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"Like you don't know."

"No, Paris, I don't."

"I saw the tickets!"

"I still have no idea what you're talking about."

Paris sneered and tried to walk away again. "Whatever. I don't have time for things like concerts anyway. I'm already lining up my extracurriculars for next year."

Rory followed her again, hoping Paris would keep talking and enlighten her on the not-friendship whiplash.

Paris wheeled around to face her. "By the way, are you still going out for the school paper?"

"You know I am."

"You're going to need a faculty recommendation and the support of the student editor."

Opting for the clearer challenge, Rory let the P.J. Harvey confusion go. "I think I can swing it. I'm not worried."

"Worry. I just got the job."

Rory inwardly cringed. She was getting the feeling she wasn't going to win with Paris no matter what she did at this moment. To her left, she saw Madeline and Louise stop on the main staircase to wait for Paris to finish her tirade. They fixed Rory with cold looks.

"Paris -"

Paris cut her off. "Gotta go." She paused at the bottom of the steps to fix Rory with another look. "Have a _really_ good summer."

The warning bell rang as the three of them walked away.

It was the end of the day when Tristan finally caught up to Rory at her locker. She didn't immediately notice him, looking lost in thought.

Tristan leaned in a little. "Next year, you should decorate your locker with something other than black and white photos of a bunch of dead women."

Rory blinked, and gave him a sidelong look. "What, do you think I should put curtains in?"

"You know what I mean. I did mine up."

"Oh, I saw." Rory rolled her eyes, voice dripping with sarcasm as she turned back to her locker. "The naked picture of the siamese twins is particularly classy."

When it became apparent Rory wasn't going to continue the conversation, Tristan pulled the tickets out of his pocket. "Do you know what these are?"

"They look like tickets." Rory briefly glanced over and then went back to her books. Paused. And suddenly turned her full attention toward Tristan. "Please tell me those aren't tickets to -"

"P.J. Harvey." Tristan beamed, but his smile faltered when the look on Rory's face went from understanding to displeasure. "You _are_ into P.J. Harvey, right?"

"Tristan, we can't go to a concert together. It looks like a date."

". . .It's supposed to be a date."

"I can't date you, Tristan." Rory sighed. "Paris already attacked me this morning because she thought I was going with you." With that, she shut her locker and walked away.

"Rory, wait!" She didn't stop. Tristan had to jog to catch up and put himself in her path to make her stop. "Just wait a second."

Rory gave him an impatient look, but didn't try to walk away again.

"Paris will get over it eventually," Tristan said.

"Sure, when she dies of old age."

"I'm serious. I told you when I tried going out with her. It's just not there." Tristan sighed. "You know it wouldn't be fair if a guy was doing this to a girl in my position."

Rory gave a small, grudging nod to concede the point. "Still. Even if I could date you, I'm not interested in going on a date with anyone right now."

"Fine, then it doesn't have to be a date," Tristan said, putting his hands up in a placating gesture.

"What?" Rory blinked up at him in surprise.

"It doesn't have to be a date." Tristan reiterated. He pulled one of the tickets out of the packet and held it out. "But if Paris is going to hold it against you either way, don't you at least want to get something out of it?"

Rory reconsidered him, and the ticket he was holding out to her. "Not a date. No touching, no hand-holding, and no more trying to kiss me again?" She knew she shouldn't consider it, but he was right. Paris was going to hold it against her no matter what. It's what Paris did best. And she'd been in a funk ever since the breakup with Dean, even after she wallowed. . .

"Not a date." Tristan nodded. He was still holding the ticket out.

It was a bad idea, but the idea of a nice distraction won out nonetheless. Rory took the ticket.

"Not a date."

**Author's Note:**

> It's a little sparse because I didn't see the need to transcribe the whole episode when only their scenes changed for this canon divergence. Next chapter should fill out a little better.
> 
> Posted without an editor, so feel free to point out any typos.


End file.
